Setting up your Project

Goals

The purpose of this section is to show you how to set up your First Person Shooter project.

Objectives

By the end of this section of the tutorial, you will be able to:

• Set Up a New Project

• Set the Editor Startup Map

• Open Your Project in Visual Studio

• Add Log Messaging to Your Project

• Compile Your First C++ Class

• Set the Default Game Mode

Steps

• 1.1 - Project Setup

• 1.2 - Opening the Project in Visual Studio

• 1.3 - Adding Log Messaging

• 1.4 - Compiling the Project

• 1.5 - Setting the Default Game Mode

• 1.6 - Section One Summary

1.1 - Project Setup

During this step, you are going to create a starting point for our First Person Shooter (FPS) game by using the Unreal Engine.

1. Open Unreal Engine from the Epic Launcher and create a New Project.

2. Select the Games project category.

3. Select the Blank template.

4. Select the C++ project type (instead of Blueprint).

5. Disable the Starter Content.

6. Name your project FPSProject.

7. After you have named your project, go ahead and click the Create button. Project should automatically open in the Unreal Editor.

   

   Some of the code samples in this tutorial will need to be updated if you name your project differently.

8. Navigate to the Content Browser and go to the Engine > Content > Maps > Templates, double-click the Template_Default Level to open this.

   

9. Click the Play button in the Level Editor Toolbar to start Play in Editor (PIE) mode.

   

10. Press the Shift + Escape or click Stop in the Level Editor Toolbar to exit PIE mode.

    

11. Now that you are done exploring the Level, navigate to the Content Browser and create a Maps folder under the Content folder (Select the Content folder, right-click in the file window of the Content Browser, and select New Folder).

    

12. Click the File in the Main menu panel, select Save Current Level as...

    

13. Select the Maps folder in the Save Level As window, name your new map FPSMap and click Save.

    

14. Click the Edit in the Main menu panel and select Project Settings.

    

15. Navigate to the Project section on the left side of the Project Settings tab, click on Maps & Modes. Expand the Editor Startup Map dropdown menu, and select FPSMap.

    

16. Finally, close the Project Settings menu and save your project before moving onto the next step.

1.2 - Opening the Project in Visual Studio

When you set up your Basic Code project in the previous step, Unreal Engine created a Game Mode for you. Game Modes define a game's rules and win conditions. The Game Mode also sets default classes that will be used for some basic gameplay framework types, including Pawn, PlayerController, and HUD. During this section, you are going to use the Editor to open your project as a solution in Visual Studio so that you can view your project's Game Mode class.

1. Click the Tools in the Main menu panel and select Open Visual Studio to open your C++ code in Visual Studio.

   

2. After Visual Studio launches your project, you should see the .cpp and .h files inside of Visual Studio's Solution Explorer.

   

   Do not be alarmed if Visual Studio in the example images looks a little different than yours, in this examples Dark Mode are used. You can enable this by going to: Tools > Options > Environment > General > Color Theme.

3. Expand Source and then FPSProject to view the main files for your new game.

   

4. Open FPSProjectGameModeBase.cpp. It should look like the following:

   C++

   FPSProjectGameModeBase.cpp

   // Copyright Epic Games, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
        
       #include "FPSProjectGameModeBase.h"

   Copy full snippet(3 lines long)

5. Now open FPSProjectGameModeBase.h. It should look like the following:

   C++

   FPSProjectGameModeBase.h

   // Copyright Epic Games, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
            
       #pragma once
            
       #include "CoreMinimal.h"
       #include "GameFramework/GameModeBase.h"
       #include "FPSProjectGameModeBase.generated.h"
            
       /**
        * 
   
   Expand code Copy full snippet(16 lines long)

6. Now that you have opened your C++ project in Visual Studio, you are ready to start adding code to the project.

1.3 - Adding Log Messaging

A great way to start adding code to your project is by adding a log message to FPSGameMode. Log messages are really useful for verifying and debugging code during development. During this step, you will use a log message to verify that you are actually using FPSGameMode rather than the default Game Mode provided by Unreal Engine.

FPSProjectGameMode Header File

1. In the Solution Explorer, go to FPSProject > Source > FPSProject.

2. Double-click FPSProjectGameModeBase.h to open the header file for your FPSGameMode class.

   

3. Your class declaration should look like the following:

   C++

   FPSProjectGameModeBase.h

   UCLASS()
       class FPSPROJECT_API AFPSProjectGameModeBase : public AGameModeBase
       {
           GENERATED_BODY()
           
       };

   Copy full snippet(6 lines long)

4. Add the following function declaration under the AFPSProjectGameMode constructor declaration:

   C++

   FPSProjectGameModeBase.h

   virtual void StartPlay() override;

   Copy full snippet(1 line long)

   This function declaration allows you to override StartPlay so that you can print a log message to the screen when gameplay begins.

5. FPSProjectGameMode.h should now look like the following:

   C++

   FPSProjectGameModeBase.h

   // Copyright Epic Games, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
        
       #pragma once
        
       #include "CoreMinimal.h"
       #include "GameFramework/GameModeBase.h"
       #include "FPSProjectGameModeBase.generated.h"
        
       /**
        * 
   
   Expand code Copy full snippet(18 lines long)

6. Save your FPSProjectGameMode.h header file in Visual Studio.

FPSProjectGameMode CPP File

1. In the Solution Explorer, go to FPSProject > Source > FPSProject.

2. Double-click FPSProjectGameModeBase.cpp to open the implementation file for your FPSGameModeBase class.

   

3. Now add the following lines of code to the file:

   C++

   FPSProjectGameModeBase.cpp

   void AFPSProjectGameModeBase::StartPlay()
       {
           Super::StartPlay();
   	 
           check(GEngine != nullptr);
   		
           // Display a debug message for five seconds. 
           // The -1 "Key" value argument prevents the message from being updated or refreshed.
           GEngine->AddOnScreenDebugMessage(-1, 5.0f, FColor::Yellow, TEXT("Hello World, this is FPSGameMode!"));
       }

   Copy full snippet(10 lines long)

   StartPlay() will print a new debug message ("Hello World, this is FPSGameModeBase!") to the screen in yellow text for five seconds when gameplay begins.

4. FPSProjectGameModeBase.cpp should now look like the following:

   C++

   FPSProjectGameModeBase.cpp

   // Copyright Epic Games, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
     
       #include "FPSProjectGameMode.h"
    
       void AFPSProjectGameModeBase::StartPlay()
       {
           Super::StartPlay();
   	 
           check(GEngine != nullptr);
   		
   
   Expand code Copy full snippet(14 lines long)

5. Save your FPSProjectGameModeBase.cpp implementation file in Visual Studio.

1.4 - Compiling the Project

Now is a good time to compile your project so that you can see your code changes reflected in-game.

1. Going back to the Editor, click the Compile button to compile your code.

   

2. Click the Play button in the Level Editor Toolbar to start Play in Editor (PIE) mode.

   

   You might be wondering why your log message is not being displayed on screen when you are in PIE mode. The reason you are not seeing your log message is because the Editor is still using the default Game Mode at this stage in development.

3. Press the Shift + Escape or click Stop in the Level Editor Toolbar to exit PIE mode..

Extending your C++ Game Mode Class to Blueprints

Now is a good time to extend the C++ Game Mode class to Blueprints. Please feel free to go to the C++ and Blueprints reference page to learn more about extending C++ classes to Blueprints.

1. Create a Blueprints folder inside of the Content folder.

   

2. Right-click the FPSProjectGameModeBase class (in C++ Classes > FPSProject) to open the C++ Class Actions menu.

3. Click Create Blueprint class based on FPSProjectGameModeBase to open the Add Blueprint Class dialog menu.

   

4. Name your new Blueprint Class BP_FPSProjectGameModeBase and choose the Blueprints folder, click the Create Blueprint Class button.

   

5. As a result, you should have a newly created BP_FPSProjectGameModeBase Blueprint Class located inside of the Blueprints folder.

   

6. Make sure to save your BP_FPSProjectGameModeBase Blueprint before closing the Blueprint Editor.

1.5 - Setting the Default Game Mode

Now that you have successfully extended your newly modified Game Mode to Blueprints, you will need to set your project to use BP_FPSProjectGameModeBase as the default Game Mode in this step.

1. Click the Edit in the Main menu panel and select Project Settings.

2. Navigate to the Project section on the left side of the Project Settings tab, click on Maps & Modes. Expand the Default GameMode dropdown menu, and select BP_FPSGameModeBase.

   

3. Close the Project Settings menu.

4. Click the Play button in the Level Editor Toolbar. "Hello World, this is FPSGameMode!" should now be displayed in yellow text for five seconds in the upper left hand corner of your viewport.

   

5. Press the Shift + Escape or click Stop in the Level Editor Toolbar to exit PIE mode.

1.6 Section One Summary

// Copyright Epic Games, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 
#pragma once
 
#include "CoreMinimal.h"
#include "GameFramework/GameModeBase.h"
#include "FPSProjectGameModeBase.generated.h"
 
/**
 * 

// Copyright Epic Games, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
          
#include "FPSProjectGameMode.h"
 
void AFPSProjectGameMode::StartPlay()
{
    Super::StartPlay();
 
    checkGEngine != nullptr);
    

Congratulations! You've learned how to:

✓ Set up a New Project
✓ Open your Project in Visual Studio
✓ Add Log Messaging to your Project
✓ Compile your First C++ Class
✓ Set the Default Game Mode

You're now ready to learn how to implement your character in the next section.